The “Told you so!” Watch: Trump goes neocon

Donald Trump, who was going to drain the GOP establishment swamp and restore American foreign policy to its proper national-interest-cum-myopia basis, has now surrounded himself almost entirely with GOP establishment hacks and Fox News expert analysts (i.e., media establishment hacks). One of the funnier instances of this was his appointment of American Enterprise Institute pencil-pusher John Bolton — who had spent the previous year begging for an administration job on Fox — as national security adviser.

Today comes the news that the U.S. is playing tough guy with Iran, sending a warship into the region while Bolton talks the vague incendiary language of “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings,” and warns, in that ominous and inimitably neoconservative fashion:

The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.

Uh-oh, cultists, it’s time to turn your “Trumpy-truth” dials up to eleven, methinks. Was this what you voted for? Was this what you spent a year spluttering your sub-literate filth all over Infowars, Breitbart, Conservative Treehouse, Free Republic, and American Thinker about? War with Iran? Really?

Let me get this straight. Korea and Japan? Not America’s problem, so why not just let Kim Jong-Un do as he pleases, grant him a seat at the U.N., and tell everyone what a wonderful young leader he is. But the Middle East? Well, of course America has to fight another endless war in the Middle East. I mean what else is Trump supposed to do, in light of these “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings”?

I scroll down the page under Right Scoop’s story about this new administration eagerness to finish Bill Kristol’s war, and I read, predictably, the following comments, selected almost randomly:

“Eric”: I don’t wish for war, but should there be war with Iran my hope is that we utterly wipe them off the map and send them back to the stone age for the next 300 years.

“Ciceroni Excogitatoris”: Finally, a POTUS with cojones that does what he says…

“sjmom”: In other words “Don’t mess with Israel!” I’ve been wondering what the US would do since these new strikes on Israel. Think maybe this is the answer. Will pray Iran is smart enough to back off.

“David Jenson”: Here comes a long overdue war.

“kong1967”: It’s a huge risk for Iran to put their faith in Trump not getting re-elected. If Trump wins they’ll be in a world of hurt.

I guess it’s the beginning of a new election season again. Time to introduce this season’s main storyline and hope the fans like it. Not to worry, of course, the sheep will stay in their pen.